


The story of a Chief and a Captain

by Moonlightflower



Series: The Origins of the Piston Peak Air Attack team [6]
Category: Cars (Movies), Planes (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Crying, Death, Friendship, Granite Mountain Hotshots tribute, Grief/Mourning, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Near Death Experiences, Recovery, Serious Injuries, Storytelling, Team as Family, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-04 05:36:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20465882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlightflower/pseuds/Moonlightflower
Summary: All it takes is one gust of wind, one little change, to turn the world as you know it upside down and change it forever... And when the dust settles, nothing will ever be the same again.This is the story of how Blade ended up as Piston Peak's Chief and how Dynamite became the Smokejumpers Captain.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone,  
first off (I can't believe I'm saying this but...) 
> 
> HEED THE TAGS! THIS STORY IS NOT A HAPPY STORY! 
> 
> And if you think the tags are missing something, please tell me! It's hard to keep track of what to put in without taking too much of the story away beforehand...
> 
> Now, if you still want to continue, I wish you fun with this not-quite-an-origin story :)
> 
> Also, this story was inspired by a real story. I will put it up in the tags after I finish uploading it but until then, I want to see if anybody gets the refrence. Of course I had to change the story to fit this universe, so it's not completely the same, but it's close. I want to make clear though, that I am neither related to anybody or anything involved in the actual events and that I am merley a non-firefighter who was deeply moved by their story. This is, in a way, my tribute to them. 
> 
> So now, after this tremendously long note, Enjoy the first chapter of my longest origin story! :)

It was a beautiful day out at Piston Peak. The sun was shining with little white clouds adorning the sky, a soft breeze blowing through the trees and making them seem restless in their gentle shifting. Normally, such a day would have had everybody in a great mood, spending their time out in the sun and having fun. So when Dusty woke up to find Blade still inside with a gloomy expression, staring out of the window with a faraway look in his eyes, something felt off.

“Morning Blaze.”

The helicopter seemed to startle at his voice, almost looking surprised when he realized that he wasn’t alone. Blade didn’t turn around though, eyes remaining fixed in the distance. 

“Blade? Everything alright?”

Blade nodded, then seemed to cave in on himself, quietly shaking his head.

“What’s wrong sweetcore?”

The other gulped but remained silent.

“Should I go get Maru?”

Dusty knew that there were certain ghosts from his past that Blade just wasn’t ready to talk about yet. Their relationship was still fresh and Dusty fully acknowledged that compared to Maru’s 37 years, the one year that he knew Blade was nothing. No matter how much he wanted to help his partner through these episodes, he knew that Maru was much more capable of actually helping Blade. _ All I can do is be there and try to comfort you in my own way. _ Dusty was halfway out the hangar when Blade called out to him, voice hesitant.

“Don’t! Not this time…”

He broke off, seeming to try and collect himself before putting on a brave face that Dusty had never seen on him before. The pain wasn’t hidden in the least but Blade still managed to give off a certain strength, making Dusty feel a little uneasy with the way that it seemed forced. _ What happened? _

“It’s okay Blade.”

Both mechanisms startled at the sudden new voice. Neither had noticed the hangar door opening, revealing Maru and Windlifter, both wearing the same solemn expressions as Blade.

“If he’s going to live here, he’ll find out anyway. We might as well tell him the story now.”

Maru’s voice was shaky and even though the little forklift tried to put on a brave front, Dusty could see that something was deeply upsetting the mechanic. It was so unlike his usual cocky personality that Dusty was really beginning to worry. When _ Blade _ rolled over to pull _ Maru _under his rotors and held him tightly, the forklift partially hiding his face in his side he couldn’t hold back anymore.

“What story?”

Maru failed to answer, voice choking as he clung to Blade a little tighter. It was Windlifter who spoke first, voice hard and at the same time sounding hollow. Dusty had never seen him with such a closed-off expression before. 

“The story of a chief and a captain.”

_ I get the feeling that this isn’t a story you want to tell… _

“Or the story of how I became the chief and how Dynamite ended up captaining the Smokejumpers.”

Dusty nodded, a sinking feeling in his tanks. When Maru began speaking his voice was surprisingly steady.

“Before you came here, or more precisely before any of us came here, there was a Piston Peak Air Attack team as well, only with other members. I mean, of course there was, that much is obvious but yeah… After some of us were here already we were 30 mechanisms at some point. Crazy, right? So many… Well, as you can see, it’s only us now.”

He stopped talking in lieu of facing the distant forest, a faraway look in his eyes that was mirrored on Blade’s and Windlifter’s face. 

“Hey…”

All four of them startled at the sudden deep rumble of Cabbie’s voice. The old warplane had a concerned look in his eyes as he regarded the two helicopters and the forklift.

“Why don’t you guys go on ahead. The Jumpers are already on their way and Dipper is about to leave. Patch is waiting for you, assuming you’ll give her a lift?”

Windlifter nodded, already turning towards the runway where Dusty could see Dipper taking off towards the forest, the part that Maru had been staring at. Blade gave Dusty an apologizing look. ‘I’m sorry…’ was written all over his face. Dusty did his best to give him a reassuring smile as he and Maru went after Windlifter. _ It’s alright… _

When all of them were gone Dusty turned his eyes back onto Cabbie who was watching him carefully.

“Where are all of them going?”

“The safety zone.”

“I’m assuming you’re not talking about the lake.”

“Correct. There is a second one, on the other side of the forest. And we’re going too. Technically, you’re small enough to land there so you could fly, but if you’re willing to maneuver through the forest with a giant like me, which won’t be that easy, I can tell you that story they were speaking about. They may put up a brave front but all of them are still way too close to what happened to be in any condition to tell you this. Pinecone, Avalanche and Drip weren’t here yet, so they could only tell you the rough details. Out of everybody who was there I am your best bet.”

If he hadn’t gotten to know the old warplane better than that, he would have thought he sounded indifferent. But now that he had Dusty could hear the strain. An old wound that had long since healed over but left behind a scar that could never be forgotten. 

“Don’t mistake this for me not being affected. Out of all the people here, I just have the most experience with these kinds of things.”

He nodded, not daring to interrupt Cabbie in case he changed his mind. But Cabbie seemed determined as he started rolling towards the street that would lead them down the mountain and into the forest.

“Better listen closely kid, because I’m only going to tell you this once and I’m asking you to never ask any of the others to tell you about it again. If Blade wants to talk about this with you, he will. But right now they are taking care of each other. And no matter how well-meaning, you would be an intrusion. I know it isn’t easy to just stand by on the sidelines and watch. But trust me. They’ll be fine.”

“Okay…”

Dusty found that his own voice had adopted a solemn undercurrent. He had no idea what to expect but he knew that from the way everybody was acting, it was something big. As the left the road to enter the forest, Cabbie sighed, letting some of the sadness shine through before visibly steeling himself.

“Well… It all started on a day much like this one. 25 five years ago to be precise. Exactly 25 years. As I mentioned before, Avalanche, Drip and Pinecone weren’t with us yet. But Windlifter, Maru, Dipper, Patch, Blade, Dynamite, Blackout and I were already here. Blade was second in command at the time and Dynamite and Blackout were part of a crew of 20 Hotshots and Smokejumpers.”

“20?!”

“Yes… Apart from them, there were also a SEAT, Melro, and three more air tankers. Tobulouse, Alair and our Chief, Tamati.“

“30 people… guess Cad wasn’t around to cut your budget short yet…”

“Oh no, he was there already. But he only just started thinking about the Lodge restoration at that time. Nothing budget-related yet. Though it wasn’t long until he thought of it and when he did it only added to everything else. But I’m getting ahead of myself. As I said, it all started out on a day much like this…”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is the next chapter! Now we're diving right into the story that Cabbie is telling Dusty ;)
> 
> From here on out through probably the rest of the story, I’ll be using these *…* for anything said over radio and these “…” for anything said in person. Because there will be a lot of swithing between both at some point and I don’t want to confuse anybody here, so just keep that in mind.
> 
> Enjoy :)

_A small wildfire…_

_Caused by some lightning in the night…._

Dynamite smiled. 

_This should be easy enough. _

“Hey, guys, bet you we can crack this one within an hour!”

Jurigan chuckled, shaking his head a little while the rest of the troupe caught onto the challenge. They were on their way to a relatively small fire with a slow rate of spread. It was pretty far from the lake but they didn’t have the aircraft with them anyway so it didn’t really matter. Tamati had taken the Air Attack outside of the valley for a little bit of training that needed wider grounds. Not far away of course since chances were good they would be needed but after a bit of consideration, they had decided that they would be able to handle a small fire like that on their own. They were twenty mechanisms. Just as many as most of the non-integrated hotshot crews usually had and they worked on their own just fine. Dynamite was actually a little excited at the prospect of not having any help from above to do this. It was a nice challenge and most importantly something completely new for her. Unlike the Hotshots and the live trainees, she had only learned how to function in an integrated team in her academy time, so she wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this. But she had full faith in Jurigan and her other teammates.

_Let’s do this!_

The wind around her picked up a little, almost as if to emphasize her words and Dynamite almost giggled. Almost. Jurigan’s sudden change in expression kept her quiet though. The car’s expression had hardened, a calculating but slightly worried look in his eyes as another gust of wind hit them. 

“Dynamite.”

_His voice is calm as always though_. Dynamite shook the thought off and sped up to keep up with her captain.

“Yeah Captain? What’s up?”

“I don’t like this wind. When we left there were no signs of any kind of wind and now it’s already well tangible. Wind changes are always dangerous, strong ones even more so and sudden ones can be lethal.”

Every firefighter knew that. It was one of the first things taught to them, especially as a ground force. But that’s what they had Patch for, she kept them updated on the weather conditions. As if he had read her thoughts, Jurigan shook his head.

“This change was too sudden. We haven’t heard from Patch yet and we can already well feel the effects. I know you’ve been looking forward to this, but I’m not taking this risk. We need a lookout on the ground who can tell us of changes in live time and out of all of us you have the best education when it comes to keeping an eye on the weather and making out sudden changes from the ground.”

Dynamite nodded, the words not quite sinking in yet. True she had learned how to be a lookout and how to use certain instruments to measure wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity and the like._ I can’t be the only one who knows this though…_

“Out of all of us here you function best in an individual setting. That’s why I’m asking you. If this thing goes south I have absolute faith that you’ll be able to find your way to the lake and come out unscathed. I’m not so sure about that with a few other candidates here…”

His eyes quickly landed on Burrell, Ashet and Hala before concentrating back on the road. Patch chose that moment to inform them of the weather change, almost seven minutes late. _Seven minutes could take a life. _That decided it.

“Okay, where do you want me?”

Jurigan looked relieved that she had agreed. Despite his status as captain, he hated forcing one of them to do a job they didn’t want to do.

“Stay at a little distance from us. Maybe 500 meters or something. Find an outcropping or any space where you have a good view of things and keep me updated on any changes.”

Dynamite nodded, a smile spreading on her face with the new challenge.

“Copy that. Talk to you over radio soon!”

She barely heard Jurigan’s muttered reply.

“Let’s hope you won’t need to…”

It took her a little but she finally found a good spot among the Thunderbolt Bluffs from which she could overlook the valley pretty well and could feel the wind without it being altered by the rocks around her. By the time she had found it, little dark clouds had started gathering and the wind had gotten a bit stronger as well. _Wow… It can’t have been more than ten minutes… And to think the day started out so nicely. Incredible!_

*Jurigan, this is Dynamite reporting in. Found a good spot out in the Thunderbolt Bluffs. I haven’t done any measurements yet but I can already tell you that the wind is picking up. And there are some dark clouds gathering.*

*Alright, thanks for the heads up. We can feel the wind over here too. Rate of spread is picking up. Also, the dark clouds might be us. There is an insane amount of smoke here. Something must be up with the wood. So far it’s still rising into the air, but it’s hanging pretty low and looking pretty dense.*

Dynamite spun around and felt her tanks tighten at the sizable smoke column or rather, a smoke field that was starting to spread over the forest. _That doesn’t look good…_

*I can see your smoke but it’s not the clouds.*

Another look at them confirmed her suspicion. The dark cloud was rapidly growing in size and coming towards them.

*Looks like you got a storm incoming.*

Jurigan cursed over the radion before it fell silent for a second. Dynamite was pretty sure he was currently shouting orders at the others and trying to revise his strategy to fit the new conditions. The new, _changing_ conditions Dynamite noted as the wind changed again. Wasting no time she got her instruments and got to work on her measurements. With half her mind she kept listening to the radio chatter in case something was meant for her and distantly noted that Jurigan had called the aircraft in for backup. 

_This is no longer a small fire…_

She kept her eyes on both her instruments and her surroundings. The dense smoke in the distance was spreading incredibly fast, making it impossible to see the ground from high up. 

_I can only hope that the smoke spreads faster than the fire. Because if not…_

The aircraft were taking much too long for her liking. The radio was uncharacteristically silent. That meant the air support was not even close to the park or else they would have said something by now. She hated this suspense, not knowing what was currently happening was killing her. 

_Chrysler, how do you survive this, Patch?_

She would have given anything for an update on the situation at that point. Giving a pointed glare at the storm clouds she returned to measuring the wind speed. If it wasn’t for this weather, she wouldn’t have to worry now. In more ways than one.

“Shit…”

The wind suddenly picked up a great deal, nearly blowing her off of her current sitting place where she had leaned out over the precipice to get a better reading on the wind speed. _Not good!_

*Guys, the winds are changing here. It’s 25-35 from the north.*

*Yeah, we feel it. What do you see?*

Jurigan’s answer was instantaneous, calming Dynamite’s neves at least a little. Jurigan wouldn’t be so calm if he didn’t have the situation under control. She glanced at her surroundings, only to nearly roll of the ledge when she saw the flaming front coming closer. _When did it get here?! _

*Ah, fire’s picking up and it’s moving towards my location!*

It most definitely hadn’t been there five minutes ago. Her breathing quickened along with the temperature rise around her. How had she missed the smoke that had slowly been gathering around and above her? Suddenly, being on her own got terrifying.

*Okay, time for you to get out of there, Dynamite.*

_Oh, you don’t have to tell me that!_ She was already on her way, speeding through the rock formations and trying to stay out of the forest for as long as possible. _All of this is unburned fuel… And I have to go right through it, with the fire traveling at this speed and no aircraft to make an emergency drop! _At that moment she cursed the decision to not contact them immediately. The heat around her intensified again and she allowed herself a glance back, only to gasp in horror.

*It just hit the ridge, I’m gonna make my way back towards the lake.*

*Copy that, Dynamite.*

Even Jurigan’s calm was slowly fading. Dynamite could hear it in his voice. He was on edge. Something told her that things were going sideways, and not only for her. 

_Damn it! Tamati where are you?_

But the radio remained silent and there was no sign of any aircraft above her. On top of that, the visibility of the sky was rapidly getting worse and worse. The smoke really was dense. Dynamite could barely see the sky above her as she was forced to enter the forest. With the way it was covering the air, it was impossible to tell anything about the fire’s location or current rate of spread. The trees were obscuring her readings of the wind speed too, so she had no chance of knowing how close the deadly force was. She felt like she had never driven this fast in her entire life. The heat around her was picking up and as she looked back again she could see the fire rapidly closing in. _Rapid rate of spread…_ in her head, it sounded like Windlifter had said it and she nearly cried. This was entirely different from pulling back with the rest of the team. No. She was fleeing, completely on her own and with nobody to help her if she made a wrong turn or if the fire caught up. Which it was currently doing. Her tanks were slowly twisting as another strong gust of wind blew through the forest, carrying the burning embers over her head and setting the trees around her ablaze.

_Fuck!_

A wave of terror washed through her as she frantically radioed Jurigan, her eyes roaming the firewall and desperately looking for a way out.

*Jurigan, my escape route is blocked!*

*Dynamite, what’s your position?*

The smoke was getting to her filters, making it hard to answer and forcing her to cough.

*Come on, Dynamite, copy me!*

It was as if the heat was stealing her breath away and her voice along with it. Logically she knew she had to answer but she couldn’t.

CLANG!

Before she realized what was happening, something had hit one of her tires, pulling her into the air and above the smoke.

“Heard you over the radio!”

“Blade!”

She had never been so happy to see the helicopter before. His hoist was securely wrapped around her tire, holding her in the air as the helicopter headed towards the lake. 

*Guys, I’ve got your lookout. The fire’s making its push. We need to go back and reload.*

Dynamite’s eyes widened at the mix of relief and determination that she could see on Blade’s face. She had never seen him up close while they were fighting a fire and outside of that Blade was still a bit reclusive. Not nearly as bad as the stories she had heard from the others about when he first started, but still not the most open person. 

*Copy that, thanks for getting her.*

The relief in Jurigan’s voice was clear to hear, even through the static of the radio. The fire was beginning to interfere with the radio. Her worry, which she had all but forgotten when Blade had managed to save her from what could have been her end, resurfaced full force at that. _This isn’t good at all!_ The last time that a fire had interfered with their radio transmissions had been when Blade had crashed right into the fire. Finally, Blade reached the lake and carefully released her onto the ground before wasting no time and reloading. She could see Tamati and Windlifter zipping through the air into the direction they had come from. Towards the fire. Blade was already turning around to follow them when she realized she hadn’t said a word since he had shown up.

“Thanks for saving me back there! Now go save the others please!”

Blade gave her a nod, determined expression on his face as he took in his surroundings, no doubt already conjuring up a plan to bring this disastrous fire to a relatively good end. She just prayed that Tamati would do what Blade told him without much asking.

_You’ll need a good strategy._

Above her, she could see the first lightning bolt flash over the sky, followed by the rumbling thunder but without a trace of rain. Dread began to slowly pool in her tanks at the thought of the aircraft having to retreat because the storm made it too dangerous for them to fly. Another bolt of lightning illuminated the sky, visible even through the thick smoke that was slowly even reaching the lake, forcing Dynamite to retreat into the water just in case the fire made it this far.

_Hurry…_

The radio chatter had finally picked up, now that the aircraft were there to help but it was laced with static and the more she tried to listen and understand what was happening the more confused she got. Dynamite found herself praying that it was the water messing with her radion and not interference from the storm. There was no room for confusion, even the smallest miscommunication could have dire consequences.

_Please… Chrysler, please let them be alright…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anybody spot the refrence yet? ;)
> 
> INFO: I won't be able to update until friday. Just wanted to tell you in case somebody got worried when there's nothing on wednesday :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, sorry for the long wait... I had work for the past few days and there is no internet where I was staying, so I had no way of uploading. But now I'm back, so here's the next chapter. This one's one of my personal favorites!
> 
> Enjoy :)

“Hey Captain!”

The fire was closing in on them. Just a moment ago everything had seemed okay and now the flames were everywhere. Blackout suspected that the wind had blown the embers around in a way that cut off any chance of escape long before now though. _ If only the smoke wasn’t so dense! _ They hadn’t seen it coming and while he usually had faith in his captain to get them out, he wasn’t sure if there even was a way out for Jurigan to find anymore. By the slightly desperate look on Jurigan’s face, his captain had come to the same devastating conclusion. In all his time at Piston Peak, he had never once heard Jurigan’s voice waver. Now it was shaking as he shouted his orders.

“Prepare a deployment site! Right here! NOW!”

Every single one of them froze. Even Jurigan looked like he couldn’t believe that he had just given that order. _ Deploy… _ Using their fire shelters was the absolute last resort when no other solution was left and they would die anyway if they didn’t at least try to survive with the shelters. With the emphasis on _ trying _. 

“Can’t we go back up there?”

Malvorie was shaking, tears gathering in her eyes as she frantically searched the firewall around them for an exit.

“There’s no time!”

Jurigan’s voice had reclaimed some of its steadiness, though he sounded anything but calm as he began going through the underwood to try and create a fuel-free area so that the fire would burn around them. For one second, everybody just stood there frozen. Blackout couldn’t move. It felt surreal, like this was all just a bad dream. The little Spotfire that all of this had started with couldn’t have possibly evolved into this deadly monster… 

_ This can’t be real… _

Linnt was the first to shake himself out of it and began shouting as well, all the while frantically digging into the ground to clear the underwood.

”Deployment site right here, right now! Let’s go!”

It was like suddenly a spell was being lifted from them as the reality of the situation hit them full force. Terror began pooling in his tanks as Blackout all but jumped into action, sawing the trees down to help create a small circle where all of them would hopefully be safe. The fire was coming closer rapidly. The wind was picking up again, howling through the trees and blowing smoke and embers in all directions, making it hard to see. With how close the fire was getting, it was almost drowning out all other sounds. Blackout felt his breathing quicken as he desperately tried to stay calm. 

_ Panicking now will get us killed! We need everyone we have if we want to make it out of here! _

Evall and Flurne were sawing down the trees around them in a moderately wide circle while Ann and the twins together with Blackout took over any remaining trees and brush within the circle that they were making. Bria didn’t wait for the remains to clean up and simply knocked down any brush she could get to, shoving it over the line that Malvorie, Ashet and Geelt were trying their best to dig in a hurry. Marshal was trying to make a secondary line in front of that with the retardant in his tank, though Blackout knew it would never be enough. Licroy, Steede, Linnt and Hala all did their best to clean up what the saw cars had cut down to push it past the line, together with Jurigan and Liore who couldn’t do much else. As soon as Marshal’s tank was empty he started to burn the area around them to eliminate any possible fuel still left. Blackout felt like he had never cut down so many trees in such a short time and as a Hotshot that was saying something. But it still wasn’t fast enough. He could feel the heat around them increasing with the flames drawing nearer and together with the rustling wind, the sound of them working for their lives and the static-laced radio chatter from above them, it sounded like a deathly symphony.

*Jurigan, I’chrtzdtsending you Windlifter, okachdtzsdt?*

The words were full of static and barely understandable but at that moment Blackout didn’t care about the quality. All that mattered were the words being said. The sky above them was barely visible as he worked but Blackout thought he could see something moving above the smoke out of the corner of his eyes. _ Green… _

*Got it. That’s exactly where we want the drop!*

Jurigan’s voice had regained some of his usual calm, together with a feeling of hope that was sweeping over all of them as they worked as fast as they could. _ A drop would be a literal lifesaver right now. _ If Windlifter got to them in time there was a chance that they could escape after all.

*Windlifter, do yochrrz have their afxhrzsded locaticrhzdt?*

No answer was heard over the radio as a lightning bolt shot through the sky above them, followed by the loudest thunder Blackout could remember ever hearing in his life.

*Windlifter! Jurigan here, how do you read me?*

Nothing.

The hum of the helicopter’s rotors was now audible above the cacophony of sounds around them, coming steadily towards them, becoming visible above them and-

*Windlifter, DROP!*

Jurigan screamed, but there was only static as a reply as Windlifter, their only hope for making it out unscathed, passed over them, condemning them to their fate and displaying no sign of having noticed his error. Blackout wanted to cry. 

_ No… This can’t be- No! _

*Tamati…*

Jurigan had tears in his eyes now, all hope lost from his voice as he was shaking, the despair clearly visible for all of them to see.

*I rechrzsdt yochrzstsurigan*

The radio quality got worse as the rumbling of the thunder around them increased together with the sounds of the fire that was dangerously close now.

*Okay, I’m here with everyone but Dynamite and our escape route has been cut off. We are preparing a deployment site! We are burning out around ourselves. In the brush… And I’ll radio when we’re under our sh- shelters…*

Jurigan’s voice broke as the first tear fell down his face, smearing the grime and ashes that were covering all of them and leaving a visible track on his cheeks.

*Copy thachzst. So yuchrsztrse on the south side ochrzstdzstzs fire then?*

*Affir- Ahhhhhhh!*

Jurigan nearly toppled over as the flames got within five meters of their circle and approaching the line fast. His scream was full of terror as he shouted the one order that every Hotshot prayed he would never have to hear for real.

“DEPLOY!” 

“Deploy!”

“Deploy!"

“Deploy!”

“Deploy!”

They repeated the order on instinct, shouting it at each other as if they hadn’t heard it the first time, the fear only amplifying with every echo of the word as the inferno around them got close enough to nearly take his breath away. This time Licroy was the first to shake off the fear as all of them hurriedly fumbled for their sealed fire shelters. 

“Get your rear to the fire! Hurry! Get your stuff all out! Rear to the fire! Get on the inside!”

“LICROY!”

Jurigan was still crying, his voice managing to sound both desperate and commanding at the same time.

“WHAT?”

“YOU TOO!” 

Blackout could see them share a desperate look before pulling the shelter over his head. The wind was pulling at his shelter, the protective foil only amplifying the sound as he heard the fire roaring around him.

“Chrysler… Chrysler help me…”

His voice was shaking and without realizing it tears were running down his face as he pressed it as close to the cool earth as possible to try and breathe. His shelter was in the middle of the small circle so he could hear all the others around him, some whimpering, others dead silent as the wind tried to rip the shelters away with its blazing heat.

“BURRELL?”

The voice came from the left, shouting, desperate.

“IT’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT LINNT!”

Burrell sounded sure, like he believed that from the bottom of his core. Oh, how Blackout wanted to latch onto that belief!

“I LOVE YOU!” 

Licroy’s voice was shaking but clearly heard, even over the roar of the fire and the storm. _ One last statement to the people he loves. _ Suddenly Blackout wished he could radio his maker to tell her the same.

“GET UNDER YOUR SHELTERS!” 

Jurigan was actually sobbing now, the wind carrying the sounds and integrating them into its dreadful song. Blackout could feel the heat coming closer until it felt unbearable. He couldn’t breathe, he wanted to escape and it took every bit of willpower to force himself to stay under the shelter and endure it, mouth pressed into the earth and trying to breathe. 

_ As long as you can breathe, you can survive… _

The world was slowly getting darker around him as he tried his best to hang onto his consciousness through the unbearable heat. 

_ I have… to stay… awake… _

_ Have to…….. survive…. _

He didn’t last long. 

The last thing he heard, as he faded into a blessed, cool nothingness, was Jurigan’s desperate sobs and the howl of the fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like the cliffhanger? ;)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the story continues... Sorry for the cliffhanger ;)
> 
> Anyway, have fun with diffrent POVs, I thought I'd let Windlifter have another one.
> 
> Enjoy :)

*Hotshots, this is Patch. Now I need you to pay attention! Tell me when you hear the aircraft, okay? It’s gonna be a real tough thing to see you!*

Nobody dared to interject as they all listened to the static over the radio, praying for a reply and getting none. Patch had taken over, trying her best to direct their next actions in this situation that had gotten so out of hand to try and bring at least a little order into all the chaos. Windlifter felt sick. Each second of static without so much as a sign of life he felt like his tanks were turning inside out. 

_ This is my fault… I failed! If I hadn’t, they wouldn’t be in this situation! _

As soon as Jurigan’s mangled call for Tamati had reached his radio, he had known that he had missed them. He had wanted to go right back and try again but Jurigan was already deploying, meaning that it was too late to get them out. The storm around them was picking up as well, the lightning intensifying and the thunder growing louder as if to mock them and show how dire their situation was. His gut was telling him to get the heck out of the sky and he knew from all the signs the weather was giving them that any second they stayed in the air in this area was endangering their lives as well. There was nothing they could do for the Hotshots now. One look at Blade confirmed that he wasn’t the only one who had noticed.

“Tamati, we need to go! This is getting too dangerous!”

As if to prove his point, a lightning bolt zipped right through the relatively small space that separated their chief and his second. For one second, Windlifter could see a flash of fear in both aircrafts’ eyes before Tamati’s gaze hardened as he tried to fight against the wind and towards the Hotshot’s last known probable location. 

“We can’t just leave them out here!”

“There’s nothing we can do!”

Blade was shouting over the wind and was having visible problems keeping himself upright as the wind speed increased yet again. It had to be up to 85 kilometers per hour by now. Even Windlifter was straining to stay in control of his flight path and he had more training with flying in storms than any of the others. He felt like his core was dying inside but he knew that if they stayed any longer all it would do was cause them to crash sooner or later. 

_ Crashing won’t help anybody, it will only be worse for Maru when he goes to pick up the injured. _

He didn’t need to say anything. Dipper was already on her way back, Alair and Tobulouse right on her tail and Melro turning around as well. The wind was in their favor, increasing their speed and blowing them towards the base. 

_ Towards safety. _

Windlifter wondered if Maru was praying. 

_ It would explain why the wind is suddenly helping us. _

He was about to turn around as well but Blade was still hovering rooted to the spot, eyes glued to Tamati who was stubbornly fighting against the ever-increasing wind. Lightning zipped dangerously close to him as if to warn him to stay away.

“Tamati come back! Can’t you see nature’s signs? It is shouting warnings at you from all over!”

“Doesn’t matter!”

He’d never heard Tamati’s voice turn that grim before. He couldn’t see the plane’s expression but he knew that it was matching his voice. He wasn’t far from where Widnlifter was pretty sure the Jumpers currently were. With wide eyes, he watched frozen in mid-air as their chief fought through the winds, eyes on the ground until they heard a triumphant shout.

“I SEE THEM!”

“Tamati WATCH OUT!”

Windlifter knew it before it happened, everything inside him screaming at him to get his friend out of there. But it was too late. The lightning struck Tamati mid-air, shortening out his systems and with a scream that would haunt him, Windlifter helplessly watched the plane go down into the burning woods.

“TAMATI!”

Blade’s scream shook him out of it. The helicopter had instinctively started to try and get to the crash site. At this point, Windlifter acted on instincts more than anything. He felt hollow inside, eyes still glued to the place where Tamati had crashed, the smoke now darker than the rest. His eyes stung as he saw every moment that they had spent together pass in front of his eyes.

_ No… _

“Leave it, Blade! If you go there now you’ll crash too. That won’t bring him back!”

Blade sobbed, tears freely running down his face but he stopped struggling, letting the wind blow him towards their base. Windlifter followed suit, forcing his eyes away from where he had seen Tamati last and praying that by some miracle his chief would survive.

There was an eerie silence as they landed. Dipper and Patch had a crying Dynamite sandwiched between them. Alair and Tobulouse had Melro huddled between each other to try and draw comfort from the familiar people around them. Cabbie was standing off to the side, expression hard and unreadable but keeping an eye on everybody present and all but radiating a sense of safety amidst all the chaos. Maru stood in front of his garage with wide eyes. He was the first to notice them. Windlifter wasn’t sure if it was the fact that they had come alone or that Blade was crying. Maybe both, but the moment Maru spotted them he shook his head in desperate denial.

“No…”

That brought everybody’s attention onto them as they touched down on the runway, Blade instantly making a beeline for their mechanic and all but throwing himself at him. Maru instantly held him tightly, lifts rubbing Blade’s sides as the forklift tried to help the helicopter through what looked like a pretty bad panic attack. That left him as the only person to explain the absence of their chief. All eyes were on him as he simply stared into the distance where the smoke could be seen, trying with all his might to blink the tears away. 

_ This is all my fault… _

“Windlifter…”

Alair’s voice was trembling and his eyes were pleading as he looked at him. 

“Where’s Tamati?”

Windlifter felt hollow. His throat was dry and tight and he felt like no words would make it past his lips. But he had to. Even though he knew that, no words would leave his mouth. Instead, the tears became impossible to will away and started rolling down his cheeks, one by one.

“He refused to give up.”

Windlifter spun around, wide eyes on Blade as the shaking helicopter was clinging to Maru, not looking at any of them.

“Just when he said he saw them, he got hit by lightning. His systems shortened out, he got dragged down by the storm and crashed.”

_ Right into the fire… _

Melro whimpered, Alair shook his head violently and Tobulouse simply closed his eyes. Dynamite looked like she had no tears left to cry and Dipper and Patch were too focused on their friend to really understand the meaning behind the words. 

_ We very likely lost our chief just now… _

The thought hurt. Windlifter had known the dangers of this job, they all knew them but in all this time he had never had to deal with the death of one of their own. 

_ The death of a friend… _

He found himself praying that at least the Hotshots and Smokejumpers would be alright with their fire shelters. 

_ And who knows… Miracles have happened before. Maybe Tamati will survive. Somehow… _

He refused to believe otherwise, clinging to that last shard of hope as if his life depended on it. Which, in a way, it did. Or at least life as he had known it. 

_ If you die, nothing will ever be the same again. So don’t you dare Tamati! _

“What do we do now?”

Dipper’s voice was hesitant, almost as if she feared the answer. Windlifter understood that feeling perfectly. Because right now, he feared to be unable to do anything about the situation more than anything else.

_ And yet… _

“We wait until the storm has settled down enough for us to safely fly. Then Cabbie, Windlifter and I will go to the deployment site to pick up the Hotshots and get them back here via Cabbie. I will carry Maru for any first aid needed immediately. We’ll look for Tamati on the way.”

For having just experienced a major panic attack, Blade’s voice was surprisingly steady. 

_ Then again, having a plan, however vague, is the most calming thing you can get in these situations. _

It hit him then that Blade was currently the only one in position to give orders, not counting Maru who had mechanical overrides on all decisions. Blade was their second in command, making him their current acting chief.

_ And permanent chief in case of... _

Windlifter refused to finish that thought.

“So we’re seriously just going to sit here and wait until this dumb storm finally decides it has done us enough harm and leaves?!”

Melro sounded both defeated and angry and Windlifter silently agreed with him.

“You better start praying Maru, if you haven’t already.”

The forklift gave him an incredulous stare, quickly morphing into a glare, but he did shut his eyes and his lips were moving. Despite knowing that his friend didn’t believe in such things, Windlifter’s belief was firm. Maru did have a connection to the wind, he was certain of it. And even if he didn’t, praying was all they had left. As he looked around him, Maru wasn’t the only one who had started asking Chrysler for his mercy. 

Windlifter took a deep breath, took one last look at the burning forest in the distance and closed his eyes.

_ Kayori… Please… _

Something wet hit his nose, mixing with the tears that were still running down his cheeks. The small splash was followed by another, and then another, and another, and another. Windlifter’s eyes flew open in an instant, taking in the sky. 

_ Rain… _

The dark clouds had started opening up, finally starting to rain down on them to accompany the thunder and lightning that were still raging through the sky.

The raindrops mixed with his tears as a wave of relief washed through him. 

_ After the rain, there will be the sun. _

And if not that, it would at least mark the end of the storm. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I want to know how at least three of you guessed that beforehand in your previous comments... How did you know?!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope the last cliffhanger wasn't too mean.. But now at least they're getting somewhere.
> 
> Enjoy :)

It couldn’t have been more than an hour, one and a half at most, but to Maru, it felt like an eternity. Being stuck at the base while the fate of 20 of their guys wasn’t clear was terrible. Not to mention that the weather wasn’t exactly lifting the mood. Everybody had gathered in the main hangar to wait out the storm except for Patch who had gone up into the tower and was trying her best to get an update on the fire and if not that, at least on the weather. It was moments like these that Maru loathed. As a mechanic, he itched to do something when he knew that one of his guys was hurt. All he could do now was assemble every spare part he had, categorize them, lay them out in a way that made them easily reachable and throw together a damn well first aid kit.

_We’re gonna need it._

He was going over the kit again and again, packing and repacking it, reorganizing everything inside according to importance and really just trying to give himself something to do. His lifts were shaking.

_I mean, this isn’t the first time I had to repair them but so many at once?_

For the first time since he had started his career, he wasn’t sure if he could do this. He knew that he was good but he wasn’t sure if it would be enough. 

_Not this time…_

A small part of him was still hoping that the Hotshots would come out of their shelters uninjured but he knew that that was unlikely. There would be at least a few injuries, some more severe than others, but there was no way that all of them would come out unscathed.

“Maru…”

Blade’s voice was soft as he quietly used his hoist to stop the forklift from pacing and pull him away from repacking the first aid kit for the umpteenth time. The mechanic had no idea how the helicopter managed to stay so calm with everything that was happening but he appreciated the comfort of having a strong and steady force to lean on. Blade quietly nuzzled him, holding him close and saying nothing. At that moment, Maru was glad for the silence. He wasn’t sure if he would have been able to answer at the moment. He distantly wondered if Blade was feeling the same and was simply better at hiding it.

_Hiding your feelings was always your strong forte._

Maru almost laughed at the thought. Almost. 

_Maybe being in charge for a little is actually good for you._

By being forced into the role of the one person that had to keep a cool head at all times, maybe Blade was learning how to reroute his fear into making plans for action and being a comfort to those around him. Maru severely hoped that that was the case and not the other alternative that could end with Blade having a massive relapse into everything that Maru had worked so hard to help free his friend of. Just in case, he brought his lifts up to Balde’s side, rubbing them in the by now familiar comforting motion. 

_Even if the former is the case, I’m pretty sure you won’t mind a little comfort in this situation. Chrysler knows we all need it._

He wasn’t paying much attention to the others at this point. Everybody had just huddled together with their closest friends within the team, either trying to distract themselves or waiting in silence, eyes caught in the distance where the smoke was finally diminishing with the rain. By the time the storm calmed enough for them to fly Maru was pretty sure that there would still be some hotspots. If they had bad luck, the fire was even still burning in some places, though with the way the rain had been drenching everything around them it looked like that wouldn’t be the case.

_Finally, something going right on this horrible day…_

The rain around the base had long since stopped, the clouds slowly having moved on and wandered off over the forest. From then on out they had all just waited for Patch to give them the update that everybody was waiting for. Windlifter looked like he couldn’t decide between being impatient to get out there and dreading what they would find when they did. Maru understood the sentiment but he was itching to do some repair work and that quickly overpowered his fear of the injuries they would find.

“Guys, the weather report says you’re good to go! The storm has disappeared as fast as it came. Be careful out there though. With the way the weather is changing today, I can’t give you any predictions on how long it’ll be safe to be out there. Best you hurry.”

At that moment Maru couldn’t have cared less about the weather changes. All he needed to know was that they could finally move out. He was in his straps that fastened him to Blade’s body within a minute, Windlifter already rushing out the door and taking off together with Cabbie. In all their time here Maru had never seen the old warplane move so fast. Blade wasn’t far behind and without one of them having to say a word they rushed into the direction of the crash site. They had no way of knowing where exactly that was but Windlifter had a guess and so they followed him towards the location he thought was most likely. Maru forced himself to keep his eyes on the ground and look for Tamati. Even if he was hoping with all his core that he wouldn’t find their chief’s mangled and burned form between the burnt and black remains of the forest, he knew that it was a possibility.

The flight felt like it was taking forever. Maru could feel that Blade was physically stopping himself from rushing forward in favor of carefully searching the ground for their missing teammates. If they were still under their shelters, they would be nearly impossible to see among the grime and ashes that covered most of the ground in the burn area.

_At least I was right about the fire… It’s completely gone out. Not even a flicker to be seen._

It was a relief but it also gave the entire scene an eerie atmosphere with so many burned trees and greenery below them and the sky still covered in grey clouds.

“Over here!”

Windlifter’s shout carried through the silence, causing Cabbie and Blade to instantly speed up and hurry towards him. Maru tried to ready himself for what he might find as soon as they reached him. Closing his eyes he went through the repair kit in his mind, remembering everything he put in there and where he put it.

_Deep breath. It’s going to be alright._

He heard a gasp above him and for a moment it almost felt like they were falling before Blade caught himself. Maru’s eyes flew open at the sudden drop in altitude, automatically fixing on the ground. The moment they did Maru wished he had never opened his eyes.

_No…_

Beneath them, on the ground, he could see the mangled and burnt form of their chief, nearly unrecognizable from being twisted and blackened. Beneath him, he could see shelters, though he couldn’t make out how many of them from the air. There were a few more mangled and burned forms that he could make out within the ashes, though he prayed with everything he had that they were simply shelters.

“Blade, let me down.”

His voice was hoarse as Blade automatically lowered himself enough for Maru to safely get out of the straps. Maru didn’t dare look behind him. He didn’t want to see the corebreak in his friend’s eyes.

_Not now._

Forcing himself to stay calm, he made his way over to Tamati. With shaking lifts he searched for any signs of life.

_None… My first casualty in this job…_

Somehow, this was much worse than any patient he had ever lost before. He forced himself to blink the tears away, crouching down and gasping in horror at what he saw. Tamati had crashed right into the shelters. Four of them were buried beneath him. Maru was barely able to speak as he motioned for Windlifter and Blade.

“Ca- can you tow Tamati to the side a little? Carefully.”

He didn’t say anything about the fact that their chief was dead but Maru was pretty sure they were able to hear it in the shaking of his voice. As they moved the plane to the side, Maru found four completely crushed shelters, the forms of four mechanisms severely damaged and burnt beyond recognition. At least for the small look Maru spared them in order to check for any signs of life. He didn’t want to have to identify them yet. It would come soon enough. So he only looked at them as long as he had to, suppressing the tremor in his lifts as he pulled them back.

_Five…_

He forced himself to focus on the rest of the little clearing that was way too small for a deployment site. He had already guessed that they hadn’t had enough time from their radios but he had still hoped. At closer observation, he could make out five more burnt bodies lying amidst the ashes outside of their shelters. Maru tried his best not to imagine why they had left the shelters at all, unbidden images of the foil catching fire and forcing them out, only to face the flaming front and burn filled his head. As he did the obligatory check for signs of life he wanted to cry but no tears would come.

_Ten…_

He almost didn’t want to look beneath the remaining shelters but the smallest bit of hope that at least they had made it kept him going. Beneath the first shelter, he found a mechanism that was not burned but melted and had clearly breathed in toxic gases. 

_At least that is a kinder fate than burning. They pass out before any of the pain starts. Eleven._

Underneath the next shelter, he found much the same.

_Twelve._

With each shelter that he lifted, his hope was diminishing until he resigned himself to the fact that this was not a rescue mission. It was a death count.

_Thirteen._

_Fourteen._

_Fifteen._

_Sixteen._

_Seventeen._

_Eighteen._

_Nineteen…_

By the time he was moving towards the last shelter, he felt sick. Everything around him was completely silent. It felt like he was all alone with 19 corpses that had still been alive and laughing over his bad coffee this morning. He approached the last shelter with dread. He knew what he would find beneath it but some irrational part of him still held onto the hope that this couldn’t be it. 

_They can’t just all be gone…_

He lifted the shelter, finding a partially burned and melted but still recognizable Blackout who had fluids dribbling down his body beneath it. Somehow, knowing who the dead body was made it all the harder to touch him and check for signs of life. Maru hesitated for a moment, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

_This is it. After this check, it will be official. They’re all-_

A shallow breath instantly pulled him out of his thoughts. It was barely audible, quiet enough for it to be wishful thinking on his part but Maru didn’t take that chance. Hurriedly he leaned over Blackout, simultaneously checking for breath and a corebeat and nearly crying with relief when he found both. Then the mechanic in him took over and he instantly opened his first aid kit, getting out an oxygen mask and placing it over Blackout’s mouth. With the state the rest of the Hotshots were in Maru knew that Blackout had breathed in at least some toxic gases.

_It’s a miracle you’re still alive!_

Half of Maru’s conscience supplied that it was probably because Blackout’s shelter was in the middle of the deployment site, situating him furthest away from the flames and the heat. Normally Maru would have said that that little difference was impossible to have an impact, especially one like this, but he wasn’t complaining. Blackout’s breathing steadied a little while Maru went on to expect his burns. From the way it looked, Blackout had quite a bit of internal damage to add to the damaged plating. Even with his extensively packed first aid kit, he couldn’t do much for those on the ground except try to stabilize the saw-car and maybe fix some of the major leaks in the more important hydraulics. As soon as Blackout’s breathing had evened out enough for Maru to deem him safe for transport, he radioed Windlifter, careful not to be too loud to not make things any worse for Blackout’s already stressed systems.

*Windlifter, we got a survivor. Come down here so I can fasten him, carry him up to Cabbie. Cabbie, open your hatch. Blade, get me up there.*

He left them no time to contemplate the meaning behind the word _survivor_ as he quickly fastened Windlifter’s harness around Blackout, securing the small oxygen tank as well and then quickly jumping into Blade’s straps. Windlifter carried the unconscious saw-car up to Cabbie where Maru got out of Blade’s straps right onto the ledge and proceeded to pull Blackout inside the plane as well. As soon as they were safely inside Cabbie shut the hatch and sped up towards the base. Maru got to work on the vital hydraulics, mending what he could with emergency patches and doing his utmost best to keep their sole survivor alive.

_Don’t you dare die on me now, you hear me? Not after surviving all of that!_

Maru lost all sense of time during the way back. His sole focus was keeping Blackout in the realm of the living until they made it to the garage where he had more supplies and spare parts. When he finally felt Cabbie touch down and come to a stop he wasted no time. The moment the hatch opened he carefully pushed the saw-car out and towards his garage. 

_No time to wait for one of them to get a tow hook. They’re too much of a mess right now. _

As soon as they had landed the entire team had gathered around them. He could hear the small gasps of fear and horror at the mangled form he was currently pushing towards the garage. He was so focused on his task that he almost didn’t hear it when Dynamite spoke up.

“What about the others? If you got Blackout with you first he must be the worst of them, right? So, are the others okay?”

Maru felt his eyes sting, angrily wiping at them with a lift and not daring to look at the car as he pushed Blackout past her. He’d always hated giving bad news but this was physically painful. He didn’t want to say it out loud. Saying it out loud made it real.

“Nineteen…”

It was all he managed to croak out before the tears started to fall. It earned him a few confused looks but he knew that at least Blade, Windlifter and Cabbie knew for certain now. He was surprised when Cabbie of all people elaborated on what should have been his words. The war plane’s voice had a strange calm in it. One that did nothing to hide the sorrow but eliminated all traces of anger, fear and remorse.

“What he means to say is that, in a way, Blackout has the least injuries and is in the best condition. The others…”

He broke off, Blade automatically picking up with a hard voice that barely suppressed the tremor going through him.

“The death count of this fire is nineteen: 18 Hotshots, or more precisely 10 Smokejumpers and 8 Hotshots and our chief, Tamati, didn’t survive.”

It was such a blunt way of delivering the truth that Maru couldn’t blame Dynamite for breaking into hysteric sobs as soon as the words had sunk in. She wasn’t the only one. Those who weren’t crying were yelling in outrage, refusing to believe them and Maru could see Melro out of the corner of his eyes as he shot off the runway. Whether to flee the situation or confirm that they had indeed nineteen casualties Maru didn’t know. Blackout’s breathing became more shallow as the commotion around him increased and Maru fled into his garage, all but slamming the door shut and burying himself in his work that was trying to at least save this one person. He had to stop and force his lifts to stop shaking or to wipe tears from his eyes more than once. He knew that he was in shock and really shouldn’t be doing any repair work but he also knew that Blackout wouldn’t make it if he hesitated for even a second and so he didn’t. He worked through the pain and the hollow feeling inside by giving himself a purpose. He knew it wouldn’t last but at that moment he didn’t care about the breakdown he would have as soon as Blackout was stable and safe and he had to go and identify nineteen corpses to write their death certificates. He couldn’t allow himself to think of that. It would happen soon enough. All that mattered now was the patient that he could still save from that fate.

_If I could save nobody else, please don’t let me lose you as well! I promise I’ll do whatever I can._

Taking another deep breath, he forced the tremor out of his lifts while grabbing spare hydraulics.

_You’re not going to die on me!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... 
> 
> Did anybody expect this (except for you, Shadow)?


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When you've hit rockbottom there's only one way to go, right? 
> 
> Enjoy :)

Maru was working on Blackout day and night without a break. It worried Blade. Putting yourself under so much stress while your body tried to deal with traumatizing events was more than just unhealthy. It was dangerous. 

_I know because I’ve been there! You were the one who helped me get through it._

Logically Blade knew that what he was doing wasn’t helping in the least but at least he was forcing himself to face reality head-on this time instead of burying himself in denial and distractions. As the new chief, he had no choice but to do that anyway. Everybody else was stuck in the trauma, grieving, denying, fleeing or simply breaking down. Somebody had to keep a cool head and make sure everybody was at least fueling and that nobody got any stupid ideas of endangering themselves. He knew first hand how quickly those thoughts could worm into one’s head when they were dealing with intense grief and in some cases survivors guilt. 

_They are my guys now. All we have is each other, at least for now. And I’ll make sure that all of you will be alright._

He had entertained the thought of becoming chief before, in a distant, dream-like ‘maybe someday far away’ kind of way. Blade never wanted to leave this station and he knew that Tamati had felt the same. This was their home, their family, and the only way that Tamati would have given up being chief was him dying.

_I never thought that it could come to that…_

And yet it had. And he was left with all those chaotic, broken feelings inside that he tried to numb by being there for everybody else. He knew how to deal with trauma. 

_It’s time I pay you back for everything you ever did for me._

He would never disturb Maru in his garage unless he thought that it was absolutely necessary. A safe haven was important and on top of that Blackout did need the repairs. So he decided to do the one thing everybody was dreading. Officially, Maru would have to be the one to write the death certificates but the least Blade could do was identify each of his fallen team members and start to fill out the parts of the form that he could. 

_I get the feeling if I let you in here you’re going to break. I’d rather break myself than have you go through that._

The thought scared him. But the thought of his best friend going through that pain scared him more. So he took all the strength he had left and made his way over to the station. They had brought the nineteen bodies there for the time being, mostly to have them still close while giving everybody the space they needed. With a sigh, he rolled towards Tamati, the only one that was instantly recognizable. Standing in front of him felt surreal. Not even 48 hours ago Tamati had laughed at him for messing up a drop during their practice.

_And now-_

He felt the signs of the panic attack before it really started, forcing himself to breathe calmly and closing his eyes. It did little good. All he could see was Tamati fighting against the wind, trying to help his teammates that had probably already been dead at the time. The bolt of lightning that had hit him, that terrible second where he hung suspended in the air before falling down, almost in slow motion.

_‘TAMATI!’_

A quiet sob wrenched past his lips as he broke down in front of this person that had done so much for him. He had never given up on him, no matter how disrespectful he had been, no matter what he had done. Tamati had always understood and supported him in his own way. This wonderful cheerful person that had tied all of them together in a way that could never be replicated.

“How am I ever going to replace this? Replace you… Do you know what impossible task you’ve left me with?”

His voice was shaking as his tears hit the ground before the plane. There was no answer, of course there wasn’t, but the quiet almost felt like one of Tamati’s stares when he had looked deeply into his eyes without saying a word, expression stern and unyielding until Blade broke and gave in to whatever it was that Tamati wanted at the time.

“Why… Why do you do this? You’re supposed to be dead.”

His sobs increased.

“Why can you still make me see the reason behind your decisions and force me to accept them…”

Blade would never understand it, but just like always when such a staring contest had passed, it felt like he could feel Tamati smile. Not the radiant trademark smile he usually wore but the calm, reserved smile that he only used on special occasions. It was nothing more than a feeling but at that moment it was everything to Blade. He clung to it, used it as an anchor to even out his breathing, waiting for the shaking and the tears to subside before making his way forward towards the row of the 18 unidentified Hotshots and Smokejumpers. One by one he went past them, really looked at them and the longer he looked, the more trademark bodyparts or small sprayed-on tattoos he found. There was always something. He was half surprised he knew all of them well enough to actually know what to look for.

_Guess I got swept along at some point. It really is impossible to escape these people when they try to befriend you…_

A small sad smile made its way onto his lips as he went down the row, filling out the names and whatever else he could on the death certificate for each of them and putting the paper down in front of them. 

_Evall._

_Flurne._

_Ann._

_Bria._

_Malvorie._

_Ashet._

_Geelt._

_Drolin._

_Burrell._

_Marshall._

_Liore._

_Michgal._

_Ornat._

_Licroy._

_Steede._

_Linnt._

_Hala._

_Jurigan._

By the time he had identified their captain silent tears were running down his face again. But it also felt freeing. Almost as if by putting down their certificates in front of them, he was saying goodbye. 

_I’m going to miss you all._

A small, slightly choked laugh escaped him at the mental image of the crew’s reaction if they had ever heard him say that to them.

_‘Aww, would you look at that… Mr. Grumpy over here actually cares for us!’_

He could almost hear their giggles echo through the empty space.

_Of course I did, you idiots! I always have._

He lingered for a minute, closing his eyes and simply offering them a prayer. He usually wasn’t all that religious but it felt like the right thing to do at that moment. When he left the station and closed the door behind him he didn’t look back. Taking a deep breath of the fresh morning air he made his way back to the main base where the rest of his team was probably getting breakfast. 

_Time to move forward._

When he reached the center space he noticed that Maru’s garage was still closed. The forklift had been cooped up there for more than 37 hours without so much as coming out for something to drink. Knowing Maru that meant that the mechanic hadn't taken a single break since starting his repairs. 

_Idiot. You’re going to work yourself into exhaustion! Have you forgotten every single thing you ever told me about me hurting myself not bringing anybody back?!_

Determined, he grabbed two fuel cans and made his way over to the garage, not even bothering to knock and simply waltzing right in.

_After all, I _am_ the chief now. And your friend! You won’t get a better justification than that._

As soon as he had entered Maru’s domain he closed the door behind him, fully prepared to fight an angry and exhausted, traumatized mechanic to get him to rest and refuel. He was not prepared to find Maru slumped down and violently shaking in a corner.

“Maru!”

He instantly dropped the fuel and rushed over to his friend’s side, pulling the trembling forklift close and simply holding him. It was like that small, simple gesture of affection broke a dam. Maru openly wailed, clinging to Blade for dear life and shaking like a leaf, breathing quickening and simply asking the one question that all of them had no answer for.

“Why? Why Blade? WHY DID THEY HAVE TO DIE?”

“Ssh…”

Blade felt helpless. He didn’t know what to do other than hold the mechanic close, nuzzle his side and try to calm him. But being a calm, strong force for somebody else to lean on was _hard_, especially when all he wanted to do was cry himself. 

“Why couldn’t I save them?”

The last statement was nothing but a broken whisper and it was enough to bring the tears back into Blade’s eyes, quietly rolling down his cheeks and mixing with those of Maru.

“Because they said goodbye long before we realized…”

Maru violently shook his head, as if refusing to believe that it was true but Blade knew from the way that the forklift clung to him that deep down Maru had already accepted reality for what it was. He just wasn’t prepared to face the fact that he had. So they simply clung to each other, crying together and grieving for the friends they had lost. 

Blade couldn’t tell how long they spent leaning on each other. At some point, Maru had stopped shaking and his crying had slowly morphed into silent tears running down his face. Blade suspected it was more from exhaustion than anything but he didn’t say a word. He simply went and grabbed the fuel, extending one of the cans to Maru and earning a half-laugh in return.

“Look at you, taking care of me when it should be the other way around…”

Blade quickly shook his head, feeling both astonished and happy that despite everything, Maru still wanted to help him through his trauma and keep him safe from falling back into old habits.

“A friendship goes both ways, Maru. Right now, you needed me more than I needed you. I know it doesn’t seem like it, with my past and everything you had to do to keep me stable for the longest time, but you can always lean on me as well. I won’t break. Not this time. So stop worrying about me and let me help you for a change…”

Maru looked almost as surprised as Balde felt at his own words, but they rang with a core deep truth.

“I mean it.”

The forklift nodded, leaning onto Blade as he opened his can and slowly began drinking the oil that Blade had heated up before coming here. Maru had always done that for him and Blade found that there was just something very comforting about slowly sipping a warm drink. Even now, amidst all this, it didn’t fail to calm him. Glancing over at Maru he noticed that the warmth seemed to have the desired effect. The forklift looked calmer, if only a little, and he actually wore a small smile as he continued drinking.

“Thank you, Blade.”

Blade allowed himself to smile as well as he pulled his friend a little closer.

“Always.”

They both stayed silent after that, drawing comfort from each other and their fuel and simply letting their thoughts drift. It was the closest to a calm state that they could get in this situation. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable though. It felt nice, almost normal. They used to do this a lot after Blade’s occasional breakdowns when he’d still had those more often. He allowed his eyes to stray over the assembled spare parts until they found the slightly less mangled form of Blackout who Maru had transferred onto a sleepingmat and hooked up to some monitors to keep an eye on his vitals. 

“I’m keeping him in an induced coma for now.”

“Huh?”

Blade had almost forgotten that the mechanic in question was with him for a second. Maru’s voice was quiet and exhausted and he sounded like he wasn’t far from falling asleep against Blade’s side.

“His body needs time to heal. There’s only so much I can do, the repairs have to integrate on their own. If I allowed him to wake up now, he would probably be more traumatized than all of us together. I mean, he was there! He was the last to see all of them alive. And maybe he doesn’t even know that they’re all gone. He will have enough on his mind without having physical pain to add to that. And the other way around, his body can focus on healing the physical injuries better if it doesn’t have to focus on the mental scars as well.”

Blade hummed in understanding, noting that his friend’s eyes were drooping.

“Tired? You’ve done enough for now Maru. You’re no good to any of us if you fall asleep standing up… Time for you to rest.”

His tone was gentle but firm, leaving no room for an argument even if Maru hadn’t been too tired to speak. He gently used his hoist to maneuver the forklift onto his sleepingmat that he kept in the garage for cases like this one. Covering him with a blanket, Blade decided to put the half-empty fuel can next to his head so that he could finish it later. He left a small note beside it, smiling down at his friend as his breath nearly made the paper fly away.

‘Rest well. I’ll be somewhere outside looking out for the others if you need me. Don’t hesitate to come when you do. We’ll get through this together. All of us.’

He left the garage as quietly as possible, surprised to find that it was already afternoon. The base was quiet though he hadn’t expected much else. He was surprised to see Windlifter out on the cliff that Balde usually occupied when he wanted to think.

“Hello Windlifter. Everything alright?”

He didn’t get an answer, though judging by the grim expression on the helicopter’s face and the barely held back tears, Blade suspected that it wasn’t.

_Of course it isn’t._

“Do you want to talk about it? I’m the new chief, so, to put it into Tamati’s words, I’m your go-to person.”

He could almost see it when something broke within Windlifter at the mentioning of Tamati’s name.

“It’s my fault.”

A simple statement that made so much sense and at the same time, none at all.

“Did you set the fire? Did you make the weather go wrong? Did you trap the Jumpers in the flames? Did you tell Tamati to risk his life while trying to save them?”

With every question, Windlifter shook his head more and more violently until it seemed like he couldn’t take it anymore.

“NO! I didn’t! But if I hadn’t missed them with my drop they would have had a way out and Tamati wouldn’t have stayed out in the storm because there would have been nobody to try and rescue! If only I hadn’t…”

His voice broke and the tears finally started falling.

_Good. Cry it out. You need to grieve. Otherwise, we won’t get through this. Face the pain head-on and don’t hesitate. That’s the only way._

He said none of it out loud, well aware that hearing that in this situation didn’t help. He was half surprised that he was in good enough of a state to even think of it. He knew that there was no way to take Windlifter’s self-inflicted blame away from him. Everything that he had said was facts. It was all true, though in his hurry to find somebody at fault Windlifter had conveniently left any and all of the unpredictable weather changes and conditions of the fire out of the equation.

“The storm made radio transmissions difficult. And you had no chance of seeing them through the smoke. There was next to zero ground visibility. We had no way of knowing where exactly they were.”

“Well, we should have!”

“But we didn’t. Any of us could have tried to make a drop. Do you think I’m guilty?”

“No, you were busy with the fire, you couldn’t have known-“

“See… And you couldn’t have seen them.”

He left it at that. Any more pressuring would only make things worse and wouldn’t get them anywhere.

_I just hope that when you’re a little more clear-headed you will see it for yourself._

These things needed time. He wouldn’t pressure anybody. Everybody reacted to grief differently. His thoughts briefly strayed to the three letters that he had found on his desk this morning. Melro was quitting entirely. The letter said that he couldn’t handle being here anymore. Everything reminded him of them and he said that he would never go out into another fire again. Not without his chief. Not now that he had lost so much. Tobulouse had requested to transfer for much the same reasons though he still wanted to help others. Just not here. Alair had requested his holiday time and given a careful warning in advance that he would probably transfer into a rural area. Away from the wildfires. Blade felt a bitter laugh bubble up inside him as he remembered his old instructor’s words with which they had sent him here:

_‘Out in the wild, the chances of people dying from a fire are far less than here in the crowded areas.’_

The words felt mocking now. She had meant civilians and regarding those her words were true. But the death of 19 teammates? It was so much worse.

“I promise you, I won’t let it happen again.”

Windlifter’s words after the long silence startled him out of his thoughts. He’d almost forgotten where he was. Looking over at the helicopter, he could see a fierce determination beneath the tears.

“Never.”

He tonelessly agreed. 

_Not if I can help it._

“If you give up today, think of all the lives you won’t save tomorrow.”

It had become his motto, the one thing that kept him going when life became tough. And it would get him through this as well. Because at the end of the day, that was all that mattered.

_Not giving up. Continuing to help._

Windlifter stared at him in silence for a while, eyes wide and determined. Then he nodded, silently agreeing.

“Listen…”

Blade gulped. It was a little selfish but at that moment, he didn’t want to be the only one who had to bear this responsibility. And Windlifter had indirectly just offered to share his burden.

“Since I’m going to be the new chief, I will need a new second in command. If you want, I would be honored for it to be you. You have a great connection to nature and a sixth sense for what it’s going to throw at us next. And you’re skilled at this job. And most of all-“

His voice wavered a little.

“You want to protect this place just as much as I do.”

“This place, and our family.”

Windlifter’s words were quiet but radiated determination. And it almost felt like Blade’s motto was echoing through the wind around them.

_All the lives we can save tomorrow…_

“I would be honored to be your second.”

Blade involuntarily smiled. Not a small, sad one but a real, honest and almost happy smile. He felt a wave of relief and gratitude wash over him at the words. It felt good not being alone in this.

“Thank you, Wind.”

Windlifter smiled, chuckling at the nickname and automatically glancing at the garage. Blade had to grin as well, remembering Maru telling him the story of how he and Windlifter met. 

“It is my way of honoring the dead. Continue their work to the best of my abilities.”

Blade smiled at Windlifter’s somewhat calmer voice. He hadn’t anticipated that his try at cheering him up a little would work so well. And it had gotten him a second in command as well.

_That solves one open position. Now for the other one…_

His tanks were twisting at the thought of what he had to do now. This would tear everything open again, but it was a formality that had to be taken care of. There could be a new fire any moment and if there was, all formalities needed to be sorted out. 

_Even if our Jumpcrew is practically nonexistent right now, it needs a captain._

He took a deep breath trying to steel himself for what he would find as he stopped in front of Cabbie’s hangar. The old warplane had taken Dynamite with him as soon as they had returned with Blackout and Blade had been glad for it. She had known the Hotshots and Smokejumpers best out of everyone remaining conscious and Cabbie knew how to deal with this sort of loss from his time in the military. Whatever Cabbie had managed until now though would likely be torn down in a few moments with what he had to say.

_With Blackout out of commission that only leaves one person qualified to be the team leader._

Steeling himself for the tears, he knocked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> INFO: I have to work over the weekend (again...) where there is still no internet, so the next upload will be sometime on sunday. Have a great weekend you all :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let the aftermath continue...
> 
> Enjoy :)

The crying had finally stopped. Cabbie carefully pulled a blanket over Dynamite, making sure not to wake her in the process. The poor girl needed the rest. Closing his eyes he sighed quietly. When he had left the military he had thought he’d left the death behind for good.

_ I mean, who would have thought something like this could ever happen? _

_ _

It was nothing short of a tragedy and Cabbie was well aware of the fact. Before entering this career he had read about what it meant, the risks, the advantages, everything he had been able to dig up. There had been a statistic about firefighter deaths and another one about the deaths of wildfire specialists. If he remembered correctly then this fire had taken the most lives of wildfire firefighters since 1933. He was half surprised that they weren’t surrounded by news teams yet. Then again, nobody had submitted an official report yet. As far as he knew, Maru had kept to the repairs and hadn’t filled out the death certificates, meaning that officially nobody had died yet. He wasn’t even sure if the families had been informed, though the way he had gotten to know Blade he suspected the helicopter had taken that upon himself. 

_ Poor guy. _

For him, it was a weird situation. He was too numb to really be affected by losing teammates anymore. Or at least he was telling himself he was. This team was unlike anything he had ever had with his comrades back at any base he had been stationed at. The Jumpers had been  _ his  _ little team. And since they had rarely made use of him in order to stay with the Hotshots, the Hotshots had been his team by extension. He had always looked out for them as best as he could. And now 18 of them were dead, one was being kept in a coma and the only one remaining conscious was heavily traumatized by the events. Blade telling her that from now on, she would be the captain of the Smokejumpers, seeing how she was the only remaining person with any team leader training, had only made things worse. Dynamite had broken down, claiming that she couldn’t, that she had failed before, that it was  _ Jurigan’s _ job and that she couldn’t just replace him. It had ended with her screaming that she had no right to the position and that she should have just died in his place, only to start crying again when Cabbie had told her that that was bullshit and that she very much deserved to live. Blade had tried his best to comfort her but had soon given up and let himself be ushered out by Cabbie. Since then, Dynamite had refused to talk and simply cried. It had taken Cabbie a while for her to let him close enough to hold her and try to comfort her through her survivor's guilt. 

_ Sleep. Your body needs it. And I’ll be here to scare the nightmares away. _

_ _

He knew from experience that they would come. He was glad that it was unlikely he would have to face any himself, he needed his rest if he wanted to be there for Dynamite and Blackout once he was well enough to be brought around. The death of 19 people so close to him hurt. But for once he was glad for the horrors he had already lived through in his long life. 

_ At least the sight of them is no longer enough to traumatize me. Hurt, yes, but no trauma. _

_ _

In a way, he was glad that it left him available to help the two people most affected by this through it. He still remembered what it had been like when freshly orphaned children who had sometimes seen their parents being murdered in front of them had come into the base orphanage. In a way, this was a little like that. Only that neither the remaining Smokejumper nor the last Hotshot were children. They had simply lost their family in much the same way. 

As if on cue, Cabbie felt Dynamite starting to tremble. There wasn’t much he could do, he loathed to wake her unless strictly necessary. All he could do was pull her in a little tighter and start humming an old lullaby that one of the orphans had taught him long ago. Surprisingly it seemed to work, calming the distraught car down again and hopefully lulling her into happier dreams. 

With another sigh, Cabbie allowed his own eyes to fall shut. He had spent most of the day giving Dynamite a shoulder to lean on and simply being there for her. He could tell that she wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. It was too fresh. He didn’t really expect her to get better until Blackout was in the clear. The two of them only had each other left now. And until both of them were safe and alright, Cabbie suspected neither would start healing. He just hoped that it wouldn’t take too long and that he would be able to help them. Somewhere during the last 48 hours, he had developed a fierce protectiveness of the two of them. In a way, they were all he had left as well.

_ My ‘children’… _

Maru had kept Blackout in his coma for almost a week before deeming it safe to wake him up. His physical injuries had mostly healed, leaving him good to go as soon as he felt steady on his wheels. He had been a bit disoriented at first, thankfully long enough for Cabbie to guide him to his hangar. Dynamite was temporarily staying with him and Cabbie both knew they needed to be with each other at the moment and wanted to be there when Blackout’s mind cleared enough for him to remember. And to realize…

It took Blackout all of five minutes to remember what had happened. It seemed as if the moment Cabbie shut the door Blackout realized it wasn’t the station and that none of the others had come to get him, it all came back. For one painful second, he just stared at Cabbie wide-eyed before his eyes had landed on the shaking Dynamite.

“They’re dead, aren’t they…”

It sounded hollow, the shock only beginning to set in. Cabbie knew that it would take a little while for the news to fully hit home. Dynamite, however, had long since been forced to accept the statement as a fact and when she hard Blackout whispers it she threw himself at the other, holding him tight as he cried out.

_ No more tears left to cry, huh? _

_ _

Cabbie gave them their space, staying off to the side while making sure they were aware of his presence in case they needed him. He silently vowed to never leave their sides again. Even after they recovered from this, he would be there for them.

_ After all, I  _ am _ your drop plane. Well, at least Dynamite’s… _

_ _

He had spoken to Blade about his position, seeing how there wasn’t really anything for him to do with only one Smokejumper. Blade had revealed that he planned on converting the little subdivision into Smokejumpers only if he could get Blackout to agree.

_ ‘It’s safer that way. You can drop them off right where they are needed so the danger from the drive there doesn’t exist anymore. You can also keep a closer eye on them and on top of that the entire division would be more mobile. Even if it’s just two of them they can still do a lot. Many teams with built-in subdivisions never have more than that and Dynamite was specifically trained for such a team. I don’t know about you, but I think with how everything is, it would be a lot safer. And maybe it will give them a way of distancing themselves from what happened. They were Hotshots at the time. Maybe becoming permanent Smokejumpers will make going on without them easier.’ _

_ _

At the end of the little speech, Blade had almost sounded unsure, betraying his uneasiness with the role as the one in charge that he suddenly had to fill. Cabbie could see that it was anything but easy for him but given the circumstances he was doing a great job. Cabbie was actually quite impressed that the helicopter managed to stay level-headed amidst all the chaos. It had been Blade who had notified the families and the authorities of the incident. It had also been Blade who had shouldered the brunt of the TMST investigation, shielding the rest of the team from having to relive the memory as much as he could. Maru had had to give a mechanical report and Dynamite had to suffer through some pointed questions regarding Jurigan’s team management and general competence.

Cabbie was still seething when he remembered the guy’s cold demeanor. There had been no trace of understanding visible on his face, even when Dynamite broke into tears after he asked her if she thought Jurigan had been a competent captain or if maybe he was at fault because he messed up. No sympathy was an utter understatement.

_ Mr. Ryker… If I never see you here again it will be too soon. Didn’t they ever teach you being sensitive?! _

_ _

His fluids were boiling as soon as so much the name popped up in his mind. Unfortunately, Ryker had already told them he would be back to take Blackout’s statement as soon as his physical state allowed it, seeing how he was a prime witness and the only survivor. Cabbie planned on pulling all the strings he could to make sure that interrogation would never happen. If there was no other way they could at least send somebody who had experience with trauma victims!

There was a timid knock on the door. When Cabbie opened he found Dipper and Patch in front of it, both wearing equally worried expressions and trying to get a glimpse of their friend.

“Hey Cabbie…”

Dipper sounded tired.

“How are they doing?”

Cabbie glanced backward, noting that Blackout wasn’t audibly crying anymore, though he suspected that the tears were still running. He was leaning on Dynamite, staring out of the window and into the forest, both of them having their backs turned towards the entrance. Cabbie sighed with relief.

“They’re starting to face reality. And that means they will start to heal. What about you two? How are you holding up?”

After Melro, Alair and Tobulouse had all decided to leave Piston Peak at more or less the same time, the remaining personnel had all asked themselves if they could or even wanted to stay. Nobody blamed the three planes for leaving, though their absence had only amplified the feeling of loss. Blade had instantly decided to stay, claiming that he couldn’t give up now. Maru had loathed to even think about leaving Blade’s side and Windlifter seemed more determined than ever to protect the park. He himself had vowed to stay by the Jumpers’ side and he didn’t think that they were going to leave. Dipper and Patch had decided to stay with their friend and help Dynamite through this as best as they could. It left them with a team consisting of 8 people, living on a base that had housed 30 people a week ago. No matter where you looked, the entire space just felt empty now.

“We’re okay, I guess. All things considered and everything…”

Patch was quiet, leaning on Dipper a little.

“Tell them we said hi?”

Cabbie nodded, returning his eyes to the two Smokejumpers that were clinging to each other.

“I will.”

As they turned to leave, he added in an afterthought.

“Wounds like these take time to heal. But they will heal eventually. We’re going to be okay. Maybe not tomorrow, or next week, but we will be okay.”

_ Take it from somebody who has lived through this countless times… _

_ _

The two only nodded, Dipper trying and failing to smile at him before they left for their own hangars. Nobody really wanted to spend time outside at the moment. Too many memories of happy team activities that were lying in the air. Nobody, not even him, was ready to replace them with new ones just yet.

A month later, the team had settled into a new routine. There were many moments were simple actions stirred up memories and resulted in a breakdown but it slowly got better with everybody opening up to each other until they had grown to each look out for everybody else and be there for everybody who needed them. It was tiring at times and emotionally exhausting but it brought all of them closer together, knitting tight bonds between the team that could not so easily be broken. While they felt like a loose family before, it felt like they were closely related now. Cabbie almost couldn’t imagine not being together with these people anymore. He knew that their team relationships went way beyond normal at this point but nobody seemed to care. It was almost as if they subconsciously all wanted to project the feeling that they could never be torn apart. 

_ Never again! _

And if he was being honest, it was a nice feeling. Up to this point, Blade had kept the Jumpers out of any fires popping up, both to train Blackout in the art of smokejumping and to allow them the time they needed. Both Blackout and Dynamite had readily agreed to Blade’s idea of becoming permanent Smokejumpers, even if Blackout had been a little hesitant at first. But they had both been immensely glad for the distance to their old job. They had also refrained from moving back into the station. Instead, they had taken up residence in Tobulouse’s old hanger, preferring to stay together.

_ New life, new space. _

Cabbie had fully supported them in their decision, along with the rest of the team who all readily agreed to help them move their things and redecorate the hanger to accommodate them. Blade had also used that opportunity to clear out the Hotshot’s and Tamati’s things to send home to their families. As new chief he had moved into Tamati’s old hangar, donating the one he had previously used to Maru to use for storage to help unclutter his garage a little and make the space more lively. While they were at it they also repurposed Melro’s old hangar into a guest hangar and left Alair’s hangar in case they ever needed parts to repair their own ones. 

_ ‘I mean, this is good stuff! I can rebuild a lot of things better than new with this.’ _

_ _

They had all laughed at Maru’s indignant huff as he had placed himself in front of the hangar defensively, refusing to allow them to demolish it as they had originally planned. After all, they no longer needed it.

When Blackout finally felt safe enough to trust his Smokejumping skills enough to use them, they had all gathered to brainstorm how they could prevent something like their tragedy to ever happen again. Becoming permanent Jumpers and having Cabbie constantly keep an eye on them was already something but it wasn’t enough. 

“How about installing GPS for all team members? That way we would always know where the others are in case of a crash or little to no visibility due to smoke. And we could bypass any possible problems that turn up with our radio communication to prevent something like missing a drop from ever happening again. Oh and the obvious, we could all get new radios!”

At Maru’s suggestion, a round of nods went through the circle just as Blade sighed and shook his head.

“You know as well as I do that the only reason we have neither of those is that we can’t afford it. Otherwise, don’t you think we would have gotten them as soon as they were invented?”

“Doesn’t matter! We can sell the station and some of the parts of Alair’s hangar. And we can raise funds if we have to. This is about our lives!”

“Should we really let credits stop us from doing what we can to preserve it?”

“No.”

Blackout’s answer was quiet but held something final.

“No, we shouldn’t. We owe them at least this much.”

The circle fell silent at that. Even now, every mention of the people they had lost was painful. In this case, it did the trick though.

“Okay, so we try and find somebody interested in a firefighter station and spare hangar parts. We could also pull some strings with the newspapers. They were all so keen on getting an interview, we could try to slip in our plight, see what we can get. And some of the families have already asked if they could help us survivors to prevent this from ever happening again.”

For having resorted to nearly never speaking outside of his riddles anymore, Windlifter sounded surprisingly diplomatic. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Cabbie couldn’t help but smile.

“You realize this will probably still land us in debts, right guys?”

Blade had long since lost his uncertainty about whether or not he was a good chief. Now he stood in the circle with an absolutely sure expression and a small smile on his face, radiating confidence. At the somewhat hesitant nods he received as an answer, Blade’s smile widened.

“Great. Then let’s do this!”

The small circle erupted into cheers and for the first time since the beginning of that dreadful day, real and honest laughter echoed through the base again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the dtragedy comes to a close as we return to the present... (How many of you forgot that this was a story within a story? ;) )
> 
> Enjoy :)

“Of course, it wasn’t quite as easy as that, but in the end, we managed. Most families were happy to donate something and selling the station and some spare parts got us a good amount of credits as well. We still had to enter a pretty large debt though. Have you ever wondered how our base got into this ‘we don’t even know what the word  _ new _ means around here’ state or why our team is so small? Well, after we all got equipped with new radios and GPS most of our budget went into paying back the debts. And just as we were about to pay them off, Cad started cutting more and more of our budget. For the longest time, we couldn’t even hire any new personnel, even though it was sorely needed. Maru started rebuilding anything he could out of old parts whenever we needed it and when we finally managed to pay off the last of the debts we could save up a little and after a while we could even hire again. By that time almost three years had passed though. We really grew close in that time. And you should have seen Blade…”

Cabbie chuckled, seemingly lost in his memories.

“He really flourished with his new role. He even started opening up. We all did. Even Windlifter, in his own way, though I suspect that aside from Maru and Blade he still remains a mystery to us at most times.”

Dusty couldn’t help but chuckle himself. 

“Yeah, that sounds like the Piston Peak Air Attack team I got to know.”

The smile stayed on his face as they made their way through the trees, glad to have something happy to latch onto. The entire story had left him shaken and with a core-deep sadness at the thought that all of it had really happened. 

He had lost track of time while listening to Cabbie’s story but he suspected a good long while had passed while they had tried to find their best way through the maze of trees. Dusty distantly wondered if he would have caused them debts as well, hadn’t Skipper insisted on installing GPS on him before he went to WATG. He was suddenly glad that his friend hadn’t left any room for an argument at the time.

“Just one question? Where are we going?”

At that, Cabbie actually laughed, looking a little sheepish.

“Would you look at that. I tell you the entire story and forget the reason why I’m telling you in the first place… After all of us had some time to heal, we decided to build our friends a memorial site. A place only for us, away from the official memorials, a place that meant something. In the end, we decided to turn the deployment site into a safety zone, making a big enough clearing and covering it in stones to make sure there was nothing that could burn. In the middle of it, we put up a stone for every one of them with their names engraved into them.”

“Wow… So you turned the place that took their lives into a place that could save yours…”

Dusty didn’t quite know how to feel. The entire story left him with a deep, melancholy feeling.

“Symbolic…”

“Yeah. But at the time, it was the last thing we needed to heal. When we finished building this, it felt like finally closing the last page on this chapter. And I can only speak for myself here but when we left, it felt like what was left of the grief stayed behind. It left me feeling peaceful and with the way the others looked at the time, I think they felt the same.”

Dusty nodded. He couldn’t say that he could even begin to understand their feelings but he could imagine what it must have been like. And even though he knew that his imaginations were not even close to what they had gone through, it was enough to send shivers down his entire body and tears into his eyes.

“Well, we’re almost there. Every year on the anniversary of this happening we all gather up in the safety zone. Tobulouse, Alair and Melro will be there as well. And probably Fireflight and Finx. They transferred before it happened but both of them were a part of that team for the longest time.”

Just as Cabbie finished his last sentence, Dusty could see a clearing through the trees where the team, four unknown planes and an unknown forklift were all gathered in a circle. The Jumpers were all huddled close and as soon as they reached the clearing, Cabbie protectively placed himself behind them, offering steady comfort. The five unknown mechanisms stayed a little off to the side, next to Dipper and Patch who were simply standing there, eyes fixed on the names in front of them. Maru was sandwiched between Blade and Windlifter, leaning onto the green helicopter for a change. As soon as he entered the clearing, Blade turned around, simply looking at him with those sad eyes and saying nothing. He didn’t need words to convey what he meant. 

Dusty offered him a small smile, carefully making his way over to where the helicopter was standing and putting his wing over his tail, pulling his partner close. Blade simply leaned onto him, closing his eyes for a little before opening them and fixating on the names before him as well. The clearing was beautiful. The stone on the ground was pitch black with white impurities running through it in an intricate pattern. It almost looked intentional with how the impurities spiraled around the 19 names carved into the ground. The entire place had a sense of calm around it. Even though Dusty shared nothing of its history, he instantly felt at peace. 

He closed his eyes to offer the fallen a prayer. When he opened them again, he could feel something wet hitting his nose. The first raindrop was followed by another and soon the entire circle was caught in the light rain. Windlifter chuckled, the others soon joining in.

“How fitting. And right on time.”

He could feel Blade relax against him as the soft water drops hit his plating.

“Just like every year.”

It was as if the rain was washing away the last remnants of the gloomy atmosphere, bringing smiles to the faces of everyone gathered. 

“Good to see that they still watch over this place.”

Windlifter received a round of nods for that as everybody settled down a little more comfortably, the silent spell that had been cast on them evidently broken.

“So, how has everybody been this past year? I heard you had some exciting things happen.”

Melro shot a pointed look at Blade who had closed his eyes again, comfortably cuddling up to Dusty. The rest of the team had already gotten so used to them being tactile on most occasions that they didn’t even bat an eye anymore. It only now dawned on Dusty that Blade hadn’t always been like that. He had to chuckle as he remembered his own first impression of the helicopter. Cuddly had definitely not been on the list of things that had come to his mind at the time.

“Well, if you already know what happened, why are you asking?”

Maru was wearing his trademark grin again, shooting the SEAT a challenging look to see if he would rise to the bait and looking all but delighted when the plane did.

“I’ve read the official version so naturally, I don’t know anything at all! For example, why do I get the feeling that congratulations are in order for those two over there? I’ve never seen Blade so calm and I’m not kidding right now. Maru, that kid is giving you a run for your money here…”

“Observant, are we now? Of course he is! And he is the only one who is allowed to.”

That earned Maru a round of laughs from everybody present. Melro took it in stride, pouting for a second before shifting his attention onto Dusty since Blade didn’t seem inclined to move from where he had hidden his face in Dusty’s side.

“Well, welcome to the best firefighting team in the world, kid. And congrats on somehow getting this fine iceblock over there to melt. Literally… Wow, tell me your secret!”

“Shush Melro. You’re disturbing our happy couple.”

Windlifter’s voice was completely serious, naturally leading the newcomers to believe it was his sense of humor talking.

“Yeah, good one Wind.”

Alair’s comment earned him a round of snickers courtsey of the Jumpers and an indignant huff from Blade who finally gave up on trying to melt into Dusty’s plating and joined the conversation.

“Good to know you have so much faith in my relationship skills.”

“Wait you’re being serious?!”

“Some nice friends you have there Blade.”

Dusty couldn’t hold back his grin at the absolutely flabbergasted expressions that Melro, Alair, Toboulouse and Finx were giving them. Only Fireflight didn’t seem surprised and simply gave Blade a pretty strong pat on the back.

“Good for you! I always knew you’d come around eventually.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?!”

They all laughed, easily falling into the familiar banter and Dusty found himself right at home. Pulling Blade close again he smiled at his partner, delighted to see his eyes shine with happiness. As the rain continued to fall down on them, the sorrow from the morning, from everything that had happened in the past, was once more washed from the forefront of their minds. Not forgotten, but buried deep within the cores of all who remembered. Dusty could see it in each and every one of them, the change to the happy, sometimes crazy people that he had come to love. 

And as the clearing was filled with laughter, the first rays of sun began breaking through the rain, driving the clouds away and bathing them all in warmth and light. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is it folks! The end of my tribute story. And since it's a tribute:
> 
> Go look up the Granite Mountain Hotshots. This is based on real people and events and they deserve to have their story known. And go watch 'Only the brave'! It's an awesome movie that tells their story from the beginning to the end! It's beautiful and it's what inspired me to write this.
> 
> Other than that, I wish you a great time and hope you liked the ending! :D 
> 
> Until the next story ;)


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